Masculinity and Sense of "Honor"Sexual Understanding of Ritual in Non-Orthodox Synagogues

Abstract

English

On the basis of an ethnographic survey in non-orthodox synagogues in France, this article analyzes gendered division of rituals in religious streams open to feminization, as well as how participation in the ritual of the reading of the Torah constructs a gendered Jewish subjectivity. The object of complex religious codifications that vary from one movement to another, eligibility to this ritual defines gender and ethnicity boundaries. In orthodox judaism, men only can compete for the opportunity to ritually represent the Jewish people. In the synagogues that were under scrutiny, if women took part in the ritual, they would appropriate it differently; fewer consider it an honour one is supposed to pursue, in a hierarchical and community logic, and more consider it an individual act.

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